California death penalty ban long overdue

On Monday, a ballot initiative repealing the death penalty in California qualified for the November ballot. This is good news. If the ballot measure passes -- and there's no reason to think it won't, since even a growing number of conservatives have thrown their support behind it -- California will become the 18th state to ban the death penalty in recent years. I pray that this positive momentum continues. The death penalty is a barbaric practice that has no place in a truly civilized society.
    I have been against the death penalty for many years, but it wasn't always so. In my 20s, I bought into the old Republican/conservative argument that those on Death Row were there because they had earned their place among the condemned. I told anyone who would listen that I didn't want to pay to support these scumbags for the rest of their natural lives. Then I began to think.
   I have always considered myself pro-life. I'm against abortion in 90 percent of cases (though I'm still undecided on the "Big Three" exceptions.) But how can I call myself pro-life and condone the death penalty? If all life is valuable, what right do I have to decide that some life is more valuable than others? Could I really pull the switch, or put a needle in someone's arm and end their life? The answer to that last question is no. I realized, as a Christian, I could not, in good conscience, condone what is basically state-sanctioned murder.
   But my objection to the death penalty goes well beyond my personal morality. The death penalty is kind of like Communism. It looks good on paper and sounds good in theory, but in real-world conditions, it just doesn't work.
   The death penalty is supposed to be the ultimate deterrent. It's supposed to scare people enough that violent crime is reduced. It hasn't worked. America today is as violent and deadly as it has ever been.
   In reality, the death penalty is often imposed, but rarely carried out. In California, only 13 Death Row inmates have been executed in the past 23 years. In my old home state of Tennessee, there have been only two executions carried out since 1960. The truth is, Death Row inmates are more likely to die of old age before they ever see their sentences carried out
   There's the cost. In California, it costs the state an extra $180 million a year to maintain Death Row, as opposed to simply sentencing the inmates to life without parole.
   And there's always the possibility that someone is sitting on Death Row who truly is innocent. According to the Innocence Project (www.innocenceproject.org), there have been 289 post-conviction exonerations (covering all crimes) since 1989. There have been 222 exonerations since 2000 alone. Of those, 17 served time on Death Row. In my mind, if even one innocent person is wrongly executed, the whole system is bankrupt and should be scrapped.
   As a nation and as a society, America should be well past the need  for this "Wild West" justice. Apparently, more and more states are coming to that conclusion and scrapping this barbaric practice. It does my heart good to see that long-overdue reversal. It's about time.